Face fax on EU

Published on Tuesday 10 November 2009 19:51

Dr James Wilkie (Letters, 10 November) takes me to task for suggesting Norway pays to implement EU rules but has no influence in making them.

My ignorance is apparently shared by former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, who in 2001 described Norway as "a fax democracy" whose government sat by the machine waiting for the next directive to arrive from Brussels. The Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry puts it differently, saying: "The European Economic Association secures market access legally, but the EU decides the policy and Norway has to implement it without having participated in policy-making."

The formal situation is that EEA–European Free Trade Area members (Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, until it joins the EU) are consulted about proposed EU single market legislation but cannot participate in the EU's legislative process. Norway, with a population of 4.8 million, pays 240 million annually to the EU but gets no EU expenditure. In 2006, Norwegians gave more per capita to new EU member states than any of the original 15.

JOHN BRAND

European Movement in Scotland

Cumberland Street SE Lane

Edinburgh